What makes his message so meaningful is that it is informed by his professional experience. “At one of my last two agencies, I was told that I could never be anything more than an ACD or creative director,” recalled derek. “The other agency said I wouldn’t even become a CD. The fact was that I was never going to be in upper management because of the color of my skin, and this was despite glowing evaluations.”

derek started his career at Cramer-Krasselt and had stints as a copywriter at Falgren, Temerlin/McClain, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Berry-Brown working on brands such as McDonald’s, Subaru, Morningstar Farms, Nationwide Insurance, Nissan, American Airlines, Master Lock and others before ultimately becoming in-house creative director for RadioShack.

When he’s not sharing wisdom, derek serves clients as owner of brown & browner, an independent agency based in Columbia, South Carolina.